1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data retrieval device, a data retrieval method, and a computer-readable recording medium, which are suitable for use in searching data such as image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
When performing searches on image data, conventional data retrieval devices generate a thumbnail image for each image and then display a list view of the thumbnail images on-screen. In addition, when the entire list view cannot be completely displayed on-screen, these data retrieval devices may, for example, cause the list view to scroll on-screen according to user operations, thereby causing all of the thumbnail images to be displayed on the screen. When the user selects a desired thumbnail image from the list view displayed on-screen, the data retrieval device displays on the screen the original image corresponding to the selected thumbnail image.
In addition, there is technology whose object is to allow users to easily search for desired thumbnail images from among a plurality of thumbnail images, described for example in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-14237. Specifically, 2006-14237 describes a technology wherein a list view of thumbnail images is displayed on-screen, with sorting categories (such as image quality or content type categories) arranged horizontally across the screen, and thumbnail images of the images belonging to each category arranged vertically up/down the screen.
However, when a large amount of image data belongs to a single category, the user may have to spend a very long time searching for the desired image data with the technology described in the above specification.